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Wednesday, July 04, 2018

May & June at the Desert Botanical Garden

You'd think with the Sonoran Desert heating up to triple-digit temperatures in May and June that all the plant and wildlife would find the deepest patch of shade they could and refuse to come out until October, but that's not what happens at the Desert Botanical Garden.

I thought I'd share a few photos of our most recent visit there. Click on any photo and it will open automatically in a new window so you can view it full size.

Fishhook Barrel Cactus

Yes, the desert can be green.

A tiger whiptail lizard scuttling through the leaf litter.

In all the years I've been coming here, this is the first time I've seen the Giant Starfish in bloom!

The fruits and seed pods of all the various cacti can look downright strange.

And then you turn around and see something that's just plain pretty.

Another first: I'd never seen an artichoke in bloom before.

There were so many bees in this tree that the air was humming.

Remember what I said about strange?

See the bright yellow bloom stalks on the agaves to the left? They can be up to twenty feet tall.

It almost looks like this cactus gave birth to a cotton ball.

Arizona's state flower, the saguaro blossom.

This little ground squirrel was hoping standing on its hind legs would ensure a tasty treat.

This juvenile Gila woodpecker found a patch of shade on a boojum tree so that it could do a little preening.

Tephrocactus alexanderi from Argentina

The blossoms of the endangered Bishop's Cap cactus from north-central Mexico.

All righty then. This Old Man cactus went past strange and drove right into out-n-out weird.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to the Desert Botanical Garden. I have some new photos from Butterfly Wonderland and OdySea Aquarium that I'll be sharing with you next.

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About Me

Hi! I'm addicted to books (especially crime fiction), laughter and traveling off the beaten path. In my free time, when my eyes aren't glued to the printed page, one of them is usually pressed against the viewfinder of my camera. Let's see... books, laughter, travel, photography. Anything else? Oh yeah-- my dream house wouldn't have a kitchen!